(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to containers for storing sand, the containers being of the type which are stored in a motor vehicle such as a car or truck, the sand in the container being used to free the car if it should get stuck in mud or snow. The present invention also relates to emergency reflectors for use during highway emergencies.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
During the winter months, there exists a difficult problem that operators of motor vehicles such as cars or trucks have: because of the lack of friction of the drive wheels of a car in snow, in mud, or on ice, the cars may become immobilized. Many solutions to the age old problem have been proposed. One is to provide the tires of the car with studs or chains in an attempt to avoid the problem. However, it has been found that even with studs or chains on the tires, a motor vehicle may still get stuck. One solution to the problem of the cars getting stuck, is to apply sand or some other similar grannular material to the area of the mud, snow or ice near the drive wheels. This method has proved to be extremely successful.
However, until the present invention, no practical and convenient container has been provided which allows convenient storage and delivery of sand. Conventional wisdom teaches to buy a reinforced bag of sand or salt and keep the conventional bag in the trunk of the car in anticipation of future use. However, with a conventional bag of sand, the sand must be delivered to a spot underneath the car which is difficult to reach. Thus, in conjunction with carrying the bag of sand, the operator of the motor vehicle normally also carries a shovel for delivering the sand to an area near the drive wheels. During the course of the winter, moisture may enter the area in which the sand bag is stored and wet the paper sand bag. The wet bag is more difficult to handle and the sand in the bag may agglomerate thereby making it difficult to apply the sand.
Applying sand to the area near the wheels of an immobilized car is a particularly difficult task for the elderly and other persons having a lack of physical strength to shovel sand. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a container which allows for easy application of the sand to the area near the drive wheels of a car.
Moreover, once a conventional sand bag is opened, it is extremely difficult to close the sand bag in order to prevent the leakage of the sand into the trunk of the car. In general, sand bags are rectangular in shape and are difficult to store in the trunk of the car without the sand tending to spill over the floor of the trunk of the car. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a sand bag which may be maintained in the upright position to prevent tumbling of the container and spilling of the sand.
It is often desirable to carry an emergency reflector in the trunk of a car in order to allow positioning of the reflector on the roadside during a roadside emergency such as changing of a tire or the like. Thus, an operator of a motor vehicle not only carries a sand bag and a shovel, but also carries an emergency reflector.
It is one object of the present invention to provide a sandbag which allows for storage of the sand and which also allows for delivery of the sand to difficult to reach areas such as those near the drive wheels of a car stuck in snow, ice or mud.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a container for sand which may be refilled.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a container which may be filled with sand and closed to prevent leakage of sand in the trunk of a car. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a container for sand which tends to remain in an upright position so that the sand within the container is not spilled into the trunk of a car.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a container which may hold sand and which may also be used by elderly people or other persons having a lack of physical strength.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a container for sand which may be used as an emergency roadside reflector.